Improvement in shoe-fastenings



SQBABBITT.

Shoe-Fastenings.

Patented Dec. 23.1873.

witnesses: W

V@mammals UNITED STATES PATENT CEEIGE SAMUEL BABBIT'I, OF BRAZIL, INDIANA, ASSIGNOB 4TO IIIMSELF AND WILLIAM E. SIBLEY, OF BOSTON,.MASSACIIUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN SHOE-FASTENINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 145,776, dated December 23,1873; application filed November l, 1873.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL BABBITT, of Brazil, in the county of Clay and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Im- 1' rovement in Shoes, of which the following is a specication:

, My invention consists ot' a new mode of lacing shoes, by means of an overlapping flap with loops on the flap; also, on the other part adapted for a Hat strap, and a strap attached to the flap near the lower end of the overlap; also, at the other end, and lacing in the loops ot' each part alternately, and doubled through a buckle, in which it is secured at the top, the strap being long enough to let the shoe open enough for putting it on or taking it oft' without withdrawing from the buckle. rlhe loops are arranged so that when the strap is buckled it is free to draw through them forward and backward, according to the strain to which it is subject at any particular part, and so equalize the strainA throughout the length of the lacing.

The drawing is -a side elevation of my improved shoe. y

A is the ap ot one quarter, covering the slit at the instep and overlapping the quarter B, so as to close the slit as tight as possible against water and dust. C represents the loops for the lacing-strap; D, the said strap, and E the buckle for fastening the strap after the shoe is laced up, rIhe strap is atL tached at F, near one end, to the flap A, near the bottom of the slit, and passes through the loops in a zigzag course to the top, and is doubled through the buckle E, and attached at its upper end to ilap A at F. The doubled portions passing through the loop allow ot' loosening the shoe sufliciently without drawing the strap out of the buckle, thus saving considerable inconvenience that would attend the pulling of it out, and it only requires to project half as much beyond the buckle for that object that a single strap requires. The flat strap working in the metal loops is capable of slipping through the loops better than any other kind of lacings to equalize the strain along the joints, and thus secure a uniformity in the fastening not obtained by other fastenings.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patentb A shoe-lacin g consisting of the metal loops C, dat strap I), and buckle E, all combined and arranged substantially as described, and represented in the drawing.

SAMUEL BABBITT. lVitnesses D. P. SULLIVAN, J'. E. VEST. 

